Sponsorship FAQs

The Common People Child Sponsorship is your gateway to change the world by reshaping the future of an underprivilege child.  An impoverished child who should be in school is busy engaging in child labour to earn a day’s meal. With your sponsorship, this same child will now have a chance at education.

When you sponsor a child, you help to reconstruct the child’s environment and the way they live. The daily essentials that we are fortunate and blessed to experience in our own lives like education, nutrition, suitable footwear and clothes can now be made available to these innocent children who could never ever dream of such luxuries. Your donation contributes to providing these essentials to these poverty-stricken children and consequently making a positive impact to their future.

When you sponsor a child, you transform their entire lives. The Common People Child Sponsorship Programme helps to provide children living in deprived, inferior and impoverished conditions to break away from destitution and shortage.

As a child sponsor, you collaborate with us as we work with local families, community groups and governments to re-shape a child’s future – equipping them with the power and knowledge of education, good nutritional supplies, access to healthcare, providing these children access to daily essentials like personal hygiene kits among other things.

Our primary focus is to help the children that are underprivileged and give them an opportunity for a better future. This is attained by providing an overall and holistic support to their needs which include improved healthcare and education along with clean water and food.

Our aim is to remould the famished conditions these children were so used to living and giving them access to daily necessities thereby breaking the life cycle of poverty. Using your generous donations, we examine the origin and root cause of a child’s distress and work with their immediate families and society to alleviate some of their despair and thereby give them a better future. This has a positive and ripple effect on the child. Since the immediate issues of food and other daily necessities are taken care for the entire family, your sponsored child can attend school without worrying about bringing food to the table.

At the start

As soon as you make the empowering decision to sponsor a child

• You’ll receive a welcome pack with your sponsored child’s details, photo and information about the community that they live in (within 4 weeks).
• We will also be calling you to answer any questions or doubts that you may have.

During your sponsorship

• We will send you community updates so you can see the progress you are supporting and the positive impact your donation is making.
• When you plan your next vacation, consider visiting your sponsored child – it’s a life-changing experience!
• You will be receiving regular updates via The Common People Newsletter which will be sent via email.

At special times of the year

• You are welcome to send a card during special occasions like Birthdays and Christmas. Sponsored children love to hear from their sponsors, and what better time than on special occasions.

Please note- If you write to your sponsored child, we suggest you allow at least three months between letters for delivery and response.

The Common People Child Sponsorship Programme is focussed on uplifting vulnerable children from poverty and deprivation, and with your support, together we can make this possible. If you would like further information about child sponsorship, or have any queries about our mission work, please feel free to visit our website or email us at connect@thecommonpeople.org

The cost to sponsor a child is AUD $23/- a month. This covers the basic cost of 3 meals a day, schooling expenses and basic healthcare. Donations can be made monthly. Please note, 100% of your sponsorship money goes towards providing a better life for your child, as we do not take any administration fees.

Contributing to The Common People Child Sponsorship Programme is a simple and a seamless process. We have a couple of flexible payment options that you can choose from our website. You can also choose to have an automated payment set up from your nominated bank or credit card account. Since this involves a one-time registration process with your bank, many sponsors choose this option as it’s efficient and hassle free. Traditional payment methods like cheque or money order are also available.

If you have a query about your child sponsorship payments or arrangements, please email us at connect@thecommonpeople.org and we will be happy to help and answer any queries you might have.

The cost to sponsor a child is AUD $23/- a month. This covers the basic cost of 3 meals a day, schooling expenses and basic healthcare. However, there are other costs involved in providing sanitation, remoulding the community that the children live in, teaching life skills to parents among other things and all these require extra funding. Some sponsors may wish to contribute more than the designated $23/- and we recognise and appreciate this generosity. We use these extra donations received for other factors which positively impact the child and the community.

Some ways sponsors choose to contribute more is by rounding up their donations with an additional amount. If you are considering contributing an extra amount, here are some options that you can tell us where you want the extra amount to be utilised for.

• Your extra contribution can be used to sponsor an additional child. In some cases, you can sponsor more than one child from the same community. If you’d like help with this, please email us at connect@thecommonpeople.org and we can arrange this for you.
• Our Mission work is concentrated on rural and remote villages that do not have access to even basic facilities like toilets and bathrooms. Our work is not only focussed on children but also on remoulding the community they live in. If developing regional communities is something that interest you, you might choose to support a specific area of community re-development that you are passionate about such as education, health, sanitation, community essential shops etc.
• Our mission work also involves providing disaster relief and support to regions affected by drought, rain and other national calamities where villagers are poor and unable to earn their daily living. This is a significant way for you to make a positive influence on the suffering communities across the world.

If you’d like to add one of these donations to your child sponsorship payments, please email us at connect@thecommonpeople.org and we’ll help you set up the contribution and amount of your choice – either as a regular or one-off payment.

When you decide to sponsor a child, you make a life changing decision that has a positive impact to not only your sponsored child but also the community they live in.
Your donations are combined with the contributions received from other sponsors and collectively your support enables The Common People to provide benefits such as education, healthcare, nutritious food and clean water for the community’s children. All contributions are closely monitored and audited by official government bodies.

The Common People is a Not for Profit Charity organisation. What this means is that our army of volunteers including teachers, doctors, pastors and other mission field workers are all volunteers and contribute their time and resources by choice. What this also means is that 100% of your sponsorship money goes towards providing a better life for your child, as we do not take any administration fees. This is made possible by the support of generous donors and well wishers.

We take financial accountability very seriously. Our financial statements are externally audited (in the same way and to the same standards which apply to Australian companies) and our annual reports are prepared to internationally acknowledged standards of transparency for not-for-profits. We are a registered organisation and have governing bodies both in Australia and India overseeing our work and all expenses.

No. There is no legal contract between you and your sponsored child. When you choose to sponsor a child, you are only making a voluntary contribution to the on-going welfare of a child.

We encourage you to view child sponsorship as a voluntary long-term partnership. Therefore, from a payment’s perspective, as a child sponsor, you can wish to enter an agreement to set up regular, automatic payments if that works best for you. We’ll give you more information about your options and how this works.

We understand life circumstances can change and there maybe instances when you may wish to temporarily or permanently adjust or stop your donations. Please email us at connect@thecommonpeople.org and we’ll help you make any adjustments to your on-going payments. We encourage donations to come from a cheerful heart and not out of compulsion, just as its written in the Bible- 2nd Corinthians 9:6-7- whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he/she has decided in his/her heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

We encourage children and teenagers to get involved in child sponsorship, with their parents’ or guardians’ support. But please note the below points for younger supporters.

Parents and guardians, if you’d like to set up a sponsorship in your child’s name, please email us at connect@thecommonpeople.org and we can organise that for you. In this situation, please note the parent or guardian is solely responsible for payment and the child’s participation in sponsorship. We encourage parents and guardians to have an ongoing conversation with their child(ren) about safe internet use, including the sharing of photos and personal information during the sponsorship journey.

Yes, we’d be happy to help you do this. But there are some steps you’ll need to take first. Please email us at connect@thecommonpeople.org and we can help.

We work with community representatives to identify local areas where the needs are greatest and choose children from these areas for sponsorship. Our sponsored children are usually children from single mothers, widows, or orphans and consist of kids that come from the most vulnerable families. Just like contribution and donations are voluntary, vulnerable children and their family’s decision to be part of the programme are also made by their own choice and free will.

Yes. When you sponsor a child, you become an integral part of their life journey. You, as a sponsor, is the sole person the child relies on for their better future and for this reason The Common People assigns only one sponsor per sponsored child.

Should your circumstances change, and you decide to end your sponsorship, it is only then that your sponsored child will be connected to a new sponsor.

We welcome your interest to involve your business or organisation to partner with The Common People to address poverty and contribute to the welfare of children and families around the world.

Your options on how you can be involved, include

• corporate child sponsorship – your business or organisation may choose to sponsor one or more children. Like individual sponsors, you’ll receive information about each sponsored child and you may choose to visit them when you plan your next vacation.
• making a one-off or regular donation to support life-changing work in a range of areas including health, education, emergencies and disaster-relief.
• donating products to help children, families and communities in need around the world.

To find out about opportunities for your organisation or business to get involved please email us at connect@thecommonpeople.org

There are a couple of ways you can start this life changing step by signing up for child sponsorship with The Common People.  You can sign up online or by an email sponsorship form.

1. Online

Please use the Common people website link www.thecommonpeople.org
The names of the children and their profiles will be available and please select the child you wish to sponsor and follow the steps available to sign up online as a sponsor.

2.Email Sponsorship Form

We have also created an online sponsorship form if you would rather complete your interest to sponsor a child using an email form. Please email us at connect@thecommonpeople.org and the form will be emailed confidentially to you where you can complete it by filling in your details and your payment preference.

The Common People may also be setting up booths at our Community and Church events so that friends and members of the public could also be given sponsorship opportunities.

There is of course no limit to sponsorship and your interest in sponsoring more than one child is truly a blessing. Many people enjoy the experience of sponsoring more than one child and this will be more than welcomed.

If you have any questions, or would like some help with making this decision, please email us at connect@thecommonpeople.org and one of our members will help guide you through this process.

The best part of sponsoring children is making a difference in a child’s life. There are three ways to correspond and build a relationship by connecting with your sponsored child:

• The first way is to write to them. Children love receiving letters or cards and drawing pictures or sharing stories with them will make them feel loved. This can be done at your convenience and will be posted through The Common People who will personally hand deliver your letters to your child. Please send the correspondence intended for your sponsored child to the address below:

          The Common People, PO Box 30, Melbourne 3752

• Sending your child a special Birthday or Christmas card will also make a difference in their lives.
• Visiting your child and their families is the greatest way to create a relationship and bond. Please inform The Common People if you intend to visit India and all arrangements will be made to make this experience a special one between you and your sponsored child.

You may want to know what the correspondence to your child should be like. This wonderful experience of connecting with your child can be left to you but we would like to share some guidelines to follow to make this experience special.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Ask your sponsored child to share about their family and you could talk about your own family too.
• Share your interests and hobbies and what life is like in your country. You could also share with them your interest when you were a child.
• Describe your neighbourhood and what you see when you look outside your window or when take a stroll outside.
• You could include of places of interest in your country as a learning experience for your sponsored child, as they often live in rural areas.
• If you have children, you might like to involve them in writing the letter or include their drawings.

There is also no requirement to write and we leave it entirely up to you. Just knowing you are making a difference is a blessing in itself.

When you become a sponsor, you’ll receive an introductory letter from our team with details of your sponsored child. After this initial letter, you can start corresponding with them. You can look forward to receiving your sponsored child’s response in the mail.

Given the age and language barriers of the child, sometimes an adult will need to help your sponsored child write their reply and this could take anywhere up to six months before a reply is received. The Common People’s local team may also need some time to translate and deliver your correspondence.

If you haven’t received a reply within a reasonable amount of time, please email us at connect@thecommonpeople.org and we’ll be happy to help sort out any concerns you may experience.

While it will be exciting to share and tell family and friends about your child sponsorship, we do encourage you to follow some guidelines to keep our sponsored children safe and protect their privacy.

The best thing you can do before sharing your sponsorship news is to check how to safely share your sponsored child’s information online. The Common People will always welcome any questions you may have with regards to privacy sharing. Kindly email us at connect@thecommonpeople.org for any queries.

What information could potentially be shared online:

• you may share photos and videos of your sponsored child and their communities provided to you by The Common People (special rules may apply for photos you collect during sponsorship visits);
• some of the contents of letters and cards received from your sponsored child (without last names and addresses);
• personal details of your sponsored child’s including first name, age, country, language and their hobbies,

What information should not be shared online:

• The surname of your sponsored child and their reference number ( the number given to you as your reference of the child);
• The details of your sponsored child’s parents’ first names, surnames and occupations
• The address and school name of your sponsored child and any google images that could depict their exact location on line. This information could expose the child’s identity and put them at risk.
• Detailed personal information amongst others and not limited to the child’s height, weight, and specific medical conditions or disabilities;
• The religion of your sponsored child

Yes, you can. We understand that you would like to make your child feel special and wish to present them with a gift. We would recommend small simple gifts that easily fit into a business envelope to be posted overseas. Some of the gifts recommended to be sent are cards, bookmarks, stickers, photos and drawings. We also recommend not sending large parcels or gifts because it could prove inconvenient due to the:

• The Common People’s office in your sponsored child’s country not being able to pay the customs or delivery costs.
• Gifts may create inconvenience to other family members
• Some gifts may not be inappropriate, culturally or otherwise although meant well
• The gifts could easily be stolen or misplaced in transit whilst it makes its way to your sponsored child.

The Common People team are here if you have any questions about what can be sent to your sponsored child.Please email us at connect@thecommonpeople.org

The money spent on your child by your contribution is already a blessing and sending the extra money directly is not recommended. Some of the reasons why this is discouraged amongst others are:

• By sending money to an individual child or their family doesn’t contribute to the long-term development goals of the sponsorship programme.
• Our field offices may not be equipped to handle funds sent to them directly by the sponsors.
• Money may cause inconvenience amongst family and community members.

Keep in touch with your sponsored child, by writing them letters. This is the best way to reach out and make the child happy knowing that someone cares for them.

We would definitely encourage this. Many sponsors add visiting their sponsored child to their overseas trip plans and find it’s an exciting and life-changing experience!

The first – hand experience of visiting your child and their families will create lasting impressions and build the relationship between you and the child and their respective communities.

The Common People is committed to protecting the safety and wellbeing of children, families and communities with whom we work. It is recommended that before you plan on visiting the child, kindly notify or reach out to The Common People at least three months prior to your visit so that we can brief and coordinate all the necessary requirements and even plan the visit together with you.

This will not be possible and unfortunately The Common People doesn’t facilitate bringing sponsored children to Australia for visits, as it’s not in their best interests.

The focus of child sponsorship is in improving the lives of children as the community around them is strengthened. For sponsored children, leaving home and travelling overseas could be very inconvenient, costly and disruptive to their family life and education, and put their wellbeing at risk.

Unfortunately, this is not possible as The Common People don’t organise adoptions. Being a child sponsor is already a life changing experience for the child and their families. Your child sponsorship can make a great difference for a child right where they live. Your donations help to transform their community, while they continue to benefit from the love and care of their own family and friends.

When sponsored children stay in their communities they may eventually grow up to become a beacon of change.

Yes, you can continue your child sponsorship if you’re living or travelling outside of Australia.

It would be recommended to reach out to a member of  The Common People team to inform them of any changes. You’ll need to have an international credit card or Australian bank account to continue your regular donations. If you have any questions, please email us at connect@thecommonpeople.org

We’d really encourage you to involve your entire family in your journey. In fact, many sponsors tell us that sharing child sponsorship with children is a fun and educational experience.

Your child can connect with the sponsored children in a special way, by sending them pictures and writing letters. They can also learn the value of giving to others in need, and appreciate a lot more the things they currently take for granted given to them in their own lives.

Please reach out to a member of The Common People, if you’d like to register for child sponsorship in a child’s name . Please email us at connect@thecommonpeople.org and we’ll be happy to help.